Life and Survival
by eclipsestar666
Summary: The clans have suffered a sickness of darkness. From the calm compassionate clans have spawned vampires and demons of all sorts. The only thing that can stop them are the shadow a clan of warriors made to kill demons. But what happens when one is a demon?


As life itself can end in an instant the world turns to others for survival. When life can change in an instant the normal seems so strange as life itself is turned upside down. Sometimes in life you have to count on the unordinary. Mercenaries if you will. But would you trust someone that you knew was a mass murderer? Would you trust a killer that did his job without remorse? Would you trust the killer if you knew he had a large connection to your past, a chance at staying alive for the present, and the hope of reuniting your family for the future?

The shadowed shapes of cats raced past the brush line of the forest like darkness itself swallowing the very hope of life. Riverclan patrols stopped in their tracks giving many glances at each other before baring their teeth as their claws unsheathed. The savagery in their eyes sparked to life as they got into defensive stances. The shadows ceased in their own movements eyes sparking out of the dark. Blood leaked out of the mist as the scent of death and decay riddled the Riverclan warriors' noses. The small body of an apprentice was launched from the brush dashing into the ground. The body lay covered with scars and its glazed eyes still looked frantic with fear. Leopardstar let out a low growl of pure disgust as she raised her gaze from the body. "Come out shadows. Face your peers." She called into the darkness trying to hide the fear in her eyes.

The shadows let out a chuckle before slowly padding out of the darkness. Riverclan was never prepared for something as evil as this. Their pelts lay stained with dried blood and their eyes caked with the look of murder. The cats seemed as if they thrived in the environment of murder and savagery. The lead tom had a sinister like smile on his face purely made from scars running across his muzzle. The icy gaze of his eyes gave the impression of being born in the icy cold of hatred and raised in the fires of anger. The shadows gave a yowl of murder before getting into a battle like stance.

"You clan types are all the same one falls the others go with them." The lead tom said his voice chipping off his throat like ice from a mountain. He gave a short glance at the clan behind Leopardstar before looking back at her. His eyes narrowed and he lashed the long black tail of his like a whip. "How long has it been since you were warped demon?" he asked.

"Four moons." She replied smiling devilishly. The clan gave the same smile revealing devilishly sharpened canine teeth. The tom gave another angered glance at them before sighing closing his eyes. There was no turning back from his fate. Leopardstar gave a dark growl and leapt at the tom as her clan followed suit colliding with the shadows. The tom rolled onto his back trying to keep the she-cat from getting a good chomp on his veins. His paws pressed against her stomach and pushed her off slamming her into a stone. The stone cracked from her new strength and she slid from it as if it was nothing more then a small scratch.

"Come on Shade you fight like a kit!" she shouted at him lunging at him again. Shade gave another roll but this time unsheathed his claws etching them across her side. She looked at the long scratch on her side and smiled at him eyes flashing madly. "You know normal claws can't kill me." Leopardstar said sounding as if she was on top of the world.

"My claws aren't normal." He said showing them in the moonlight. The claws shined with Stygian essence the black sheen glinting evilly. Leopardstar gave a gasp and looked at her bleeding side. Fear tainted her gaze now and she collapsed twitching violently as her pain receded into pure torture. Shade padded towards her and placed his claws on her neck digging them in quickly and ferociously. The she cat gave a shudder of anger before shutting her eyes. He gave a long hard look at her before turning to look at his clan. They were doing well not many casualties suffering from their side. Riverclan began to back away but he couldn't have anyone escape that could still hunt. Shade lunged foreword slamming into a tom and digging the claws into his spine raking them up to his neck.

The night was long and hard as they continued to fight until the brink of dawn broke out over the land. The 'arena' lay bloodied and scarred as Riverclan and Shadow bodies lay strewn on the ground. Shade gave a shuddering breath before motioning his remaining clan toward the Riverclan camp. The clan gave a gasp of shock at what he was planning. "Everything burns." He said looking at the ground. Riverclan cats peeped from their dens afraid of the light of the day hitting them. Shade nodded to his clan and they raced foreword scraping their iron-like claws on the stone and ground creating sparks on the dry grass and cracked earth. Eventually the sparks ignited sending a fire into the clan and light flooding into the caves. Some of the cats almost threw up from the sounds of screaming and of burning flesh. Shade closed his eyes trying to drown out the sounds.

One sound sparked above all others and his eyes opened wide. Shade leapt through the climbing flames letting some of the flames burn his fur and torch his body. He lunged into the medicine cat den tracking the noise toward a small she cat and her mentor hovering over her. The mentor's body was shaking with pain as she drooled on the ground. "Just one last meal before I die." The mentor said opening her jaws wide. Shades claws flew fast connecting to the she cats neck and sending her careening into the flames. He drowned out the monsters screams as he looked at the grey she cat. Willowshine the medicine cat apprentice of Riverclan.

"If you want to stay alive come with me." Shade told her hunching down for her to get onto his back. She gave a scared look at him before nodding jumping on. His body lurched out of the flames over Mothwings burning body. The shadows ran ahead of him out of the burning clan and away from the screams. Willowshine pressed her claws into his side as if angered at their end to Riverclan's reign of shadow. Shade winced but tried to ignore it as they raced further and further into the day-light. The more light they had the more that they could escape the darkness.

**I own only the shadow and shade. All rights to their respective owners. **


End file.
